


BOTF side stories

by Can_I_See_Your_Passport



Series: The Future saga [3]
Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Family Fluff, Ficlet Collection, Gen, I don't know what that last tag means but it sounds fitting, I'm Bad At Tagging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 12,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26847136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Can_I_See_Your_Passport/pseuds/Can_I_See_Your_Passport
Summary: I felt like adding some side stories to my future saga... AU? Would you call this an AU? I guess that's what it is... but yeah I decided to add some side stories to it. These stories don't take place in chronological order, so when it takes place will be said in the notes
Relationships: Jesse Cosay/Lake | Mirror Tulip, Mikayla/Tulip Olsen, Simon Laurent/Grace Monroe
Series: The Future saga [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926466
Kudos: 12





	1. Mabels entrance

**Author's Note:**

> I really wasn't sure whether or not to make this, I mean I'm new to this site so I don't know if these types of stories are common or uncommon and I just wanted to tell more stories with these characters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse and Lake send Mabel off on her journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story takes place at the beginning of Book of the future, but is from Mabel's perspective instead of Cory's

"Are you sure this is a good idea Jesse?" Lake asked her husband

"I talked to Mabel about it, and she seems like she wants to do it, so I say let her do it!"

"I know but... I'm worried something will happen to her."

"Lake, we both got off that train together. And I never prepared to go on some magic therapy train, but she is prepared, she knows what she's getting into so I think she'll be more than fine!"

"That's not what I'm worried about." She looked into the bedroom mirror "what if the flecs show up?"

"I... I never thought about that."

"I spent months trying to get away from them, I'm not letting them take my child away."

Jesse thought for a good minute, until he had an idea. "What if we trick them?"

Lake looked at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she actually has non reflective parts, what if we give her gloves? I mean, there aren't any parts of her face we have to cover up. And it's winter so it'll make sense for her to be wearing gloves and a jacket!"

Lake put his face in her hands, "I love it when you have good ideas."

"You also say I rarely have good ideas."

"I also love it when you have bad ideas."

-

"How much longer do we have to wait? It's freezing out here." Mabel asked.

"I don't know, it just sort of shows up." Jesse said.

"Remember, when you get on, test a mirror, we need to make sure this actually works." Lake told her. After a long while of waiting, the train finally showed up.

"Took you long enough."

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Jesse said "Remember, we want you to be safe, it's dangerous on the train."

"I know dad." Mabel said, pulling in for a hug. "I'll miss you guys."

"Eh, you'll be off in no time." Jesse said

"Oh, there they are, there's the tears." Lake said as she felt tears forming.

"I'll be fine mom." Mabel said with a laugh before giving another hug. Mabel then turned around and walked onto the train.

The train sped off with Mabel, leaving the couple standing there. "How are you feeling?" Jesse asked

"Worried."

"It's ok, I get that. But on the bright side... we get the house to ourselves until she gets back."

"Is that still something you have to worry about? We haven't had to worry about that since she graduated preschool."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

-

Mabel woke up, she took in her surroundings, and noticed that she was in some sort of place filled with origami creatures. "Woah, this is... awesome." She was stunned by everything she saw, everything was made of origami. She noticed an origami squirrel walked up to her and gave her a curious look. "Hey there little guy, how's it going?" The squirrel quickly ran off. She remembered her mom telling her to keep a journal of the things she saw on her trip. She pulled the journal out of here backpack and began writing,

"First car, the origami car, this car seems to consist of origami objects and creatures, they all seem fairly friendly, still need to test out a mirror..." She trailed off and remembered that she had to check her number. She took off the glove on her right hand and looked at it, it was fairly low which was a relief. She continued writing. "While none of them seem threatening, they seem to see me as a threat, perhaps-"

She trailed off again, she noticed that she had stepped in something sticky. She looked at the bottom of her shoe and noticed some weird looking goop thing. "Gross!" She decided to take a bit off her shoe and smell it which nearly made her throw up. "What the hell is this doing in the origami car?" She decided to jot that down in her notes as she made her way to the door before she noticed the screen with One One explaining the rules of the train. "Sorry One One, but mom and dad already explained how this crazy train works." She then left the car and was even more surprised at the outside. "This is awesome!" She looked towards the tree in the middle, "right, don't go towards the middle, that's how you get ghoms chasing after you." The train then stopped suddenly, and she noticed a beam going into one of the cars up ahead. "Hm, look's like whoever they are, they're going home!" She then went on to the next car which was full of snow. "Hm, good thing I dressed well."

As she walked through the snowy car, she noticed something laying on the ground... No, not something, someone! It looked to be a young boy about her age, she went over to him and checked his pulse and tried waking him up. The boy woke up immediately and was very startled.

"Where am I? Who are you? Why is there snow everywhere? Did... Did I take a train to Massachusetts or something? is that why there's snow everywhere?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna have Mabel come across Graces tape in the origami car, as that's the episode where Simon trapped her in her own memories and we don't really know whether grace left the tape there or brought it with her, but I decided against it because it makes more sense that The Cat would go to that car to receive her projector after Grace leaves it there


	2. Hazel is notified

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be part of the last chapter but I completely forgot to add it
> 
> When Mabel gets on the train and is detected as a glitch, Hazel is notified

“Ms. Hazel, is there a reason why you always eat eggs?”

“Eggs aren’t the only thing I eat One One, it’s just my favorite food. You can blame Amelia for that.” Hazel began scarfing down her breakfast.

“You can’t blame the dead Ms. Hazel!”

“Of course you can, just go down to the ghost car and rant to her... or is it the zombie car? Which car do you go to if you die from old age?”

“That’s a very good question Ms. Hazel!”

“You know... sometimes I feel like going to the zombie car, finding Simon... and kicking him REALLY hard in the nuts”

“That’s not very kind Ms. Hazel!”

“Well he deserves it.”

During their conversation, One One received an update. “Ah! A level 12!”

“What?”

“Glitch... a level 12 glitch...”

“Since when did the glitches have levels?”

“They don’t, I just needed a way for you to know how serious this glitch is!”

“Alright then, how serious is it?”

“It’s...” one one then attempted a drumroll with his tiny little hands “someone who’s half passenger half denizen!”

“That doesn’t make sense... if it’s someone who’s a hybrid then they would’ve been born on the train. But if they were born on the train then why did the glitch detector not detect them until now? Unless...” Hazel looked at One One angrily “did you let a denizen off the train?”

“I... I don’t remember... there was this one girl... she looked just like Ms. Tulip... and she had a number... was she a denizen?”

“I have a number on my hand, does that make me a Passenger?” Hazel showed One One her hand with the non-glowing number, One One simply gave out more confused groans

“Ok you know what, we’ll figure that out later. I’m gonna go track down our glitch.”

One one saw her grab the remote she used for controlling the steward “do you really need the stewards help?”

“Of course I will!” Hazel exited along with the steward


	3. The Crystal car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cory, Mabel, and Si- err Neil go through the crystal car from book 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place between chapters 2 and 3 for book of the future. I decided to write this because of the whole thing about Cory being a BIG lemon demon fan so I decided to write something that lets ME be a lemon demon fanboy

“You know, this isn’t actually that bad!” Mabel told Cory “The only thing is that this song is called ancient aliens and I don’t see what it has to do with ancient aliens.”

“Oh that song? That song is about a prehistoric caveman meeting aliens.”

“As opposed to a historic caveman meeting aliens?”

The trio entered the next car, which appeared to be full of crystals.

“Oh! This car! Your- er, MY mom went through this car!”

“That’s cool, what do you do in this car?”

“What you have to do is sing a song that makes you feel something, then a BIG crystal man will come over and let you leave... oh no.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I’ve only gotten up to ancient aliens... I’m gonna have to hear you poorly sing the rest of Lemon Demon’s music before I actually listen to it myself.”

“Poorly sing it? Come on, I have the BEST singing voice! Neil can tell you that, right Neil?” Neil shook his head

“I don’t think he’s heard you sing before”

“Yeah? Well neither have you and you’re saying my singing sounds like Doug Walker screaming!”

“Who?”

“If we’re gonna sing a song to get out of this car, I know just the song... THE DAY THEY FOUND MEEEE”

-

“All that it knows is that it needs him... all it knows is he... exists...”

“Cory...”

“Every piston every single little bit...”

“It’s supposed to be songs that-“

“GOVERNMENT PEOPLE IN BLACK HELICOPTERS TRY TO SNOOP AROUND.”

“It’s supposed to be a song that makes you feel something, you’re just singing random songs.”

“A song that makes me feel something... that’s it! Goosebumps!”

“Excuse me?”

“Goosebumps, he made a song where most of the lyrics are goosebumps titles... To the girl, who cried monster... seriously, that doesn’t work either?”

“Alright, think outside the lemon, are there any songs that AREN’T by lemon demon that make you feel anything?”

“Well there’s this one show I watched called over the garden wall, and there’s a song from that which always makes me cry... Among the fields of straw and stover... Seriously? Why do none of the songs I sing work?”

“Let me try.” Mabel said. As she walked over to the crystal. She looked at it and saw her reflection

“Remember to test a mirror”

Startled, she immediately jumped at the sight of her reflection. Worried about what would happen. That was until she noticed all the other crystals around her, nothing was happening.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I’m- I’m fine.” She took a second to calm down before she heard a humming noise coming from behind her. She looked at the crystal and noticed that Neil was touching the crystal and making rhythmic humming noises.

“Neil, I think it has to be one of-“ Cory was cut off when suddenly, a giant crystal creature came over, placed down a staircase, and unlocked the door.

“Are you sure your mom sang a song or did she hum it?”

“She sang a song! But... I thought it didn’t work with denizens.”

“Oh yeah, what song did she sing?”

Mable didn’t know what to answer with, she remembered that her mom was still a reflection when Tulip went into the car, then she realized that whatever song Tulip sang, Lake also sang.

“Word up.”

“Really? My mom really likes that song. She plays it all the time whenever we have cookouts at my grandpas.”

“Huh, what a coincidence! Maybe she doesn’t trust you playing...” she looked at Cory’s phone at the song list “No eyed girl?”

“Hey, she introduced me to this music, so she also plays this at cookouts. It’s like Russian roulette with a bunch of Lemon Demon and then BAM you get word up.”

While the two of them talk, Neil- Er, Simon was frustrated. Frustrated they couldn’t understand him, frustrated that he had to listen to them have such weird conversations, the way they acted like great friends reminded him of himself and grace... before he made the biggest mistake of his life. Not to mention the song that was constantly stuck in his head, no mention of obscure bands ran by the guy they named him after because he couldn’t tell them his real name could get the song out of his head. The song he hummed to get the crystal giant to unlock the door. The song he had been constantly humming to himself during the journey.

“Don’t be a worry baby...”


	4. Bad dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A younger, littler Mabel tells her parents she had a bad dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just wanted a cute fic of Jesse and Lake being parents, this takes place when Mabel is 6 and a half

Jesse was awoken by the sound of his door opening, in his doorway he saw Mabel. Standing there with her reindeer plush, looking tired but also sad.

“What are you doing up so late little monkey?” Jesse had expected the worst. Peeing the bed, wanting to stay up, or... vomit.

“I had a bad dream...” crisis averted

“You wanna come sleep with mom and dad?” Mabel nodded her head. Jesse came over, picked up his daughter and brought her over to the bed, tucking himself and Mable in while lake was still fast asleep.

“Do you get bad dreams too daddy?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Does mommy?”

“Oh, without a doubt.”

“Are they about the bad people who chased her for being different?”

The bad people who chased her for being different, that was one way to describe the flecs

“W-what’s going on?” Lake woke up. “Mabel?”

“She had a bad dream.” Jesse told her

“Aw, my poor pumpkin.” She brought her in close and kissed her in the forehead “you wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t remember...”

“Well that’s a good thing, now you won’t have it!” Jesse chimed in with

"Well Mabel, I have bad dreams sometimes to, but you know what helps me after I have one?"

"What?"

"You, and your dad." She pulled her in and gave her a kiss on the forehead, but then blew a raspberry.

"Hey!" Mabel recoiled back giggling. "What was that for?"

"Just messing with you." The two of them giggled a little more. "Get to sleep my little angel." The family then fell asleep.

-

Jesse woke up with something poking his face. After fully waking up he realized it was Mabel's chubby little fingers.

"Your face is squishy!"

"Everyone has a squishy face, Mabel."

"Not mom."

"Well, mom is different." Jesse looked over and saw that Lake was still asleep. "Let's not wake her up. I'm gonna go make breakfast, you want pancakes?" Mabel's eyes grew wide and she nodded her head very quickly. "Alright then, come on downstairs." The two of them went downstairs while Lake continued sleeping.


	5. Tulip in the phone car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tulip tells a story from her time on the train to Cory while they pack for their trip to visit the Cosays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tulip telling the story to Cory takes place after book of the future, the story Tulip tells takes place during book 1 (obviously) between episodes 3 and 4.
> 
> The trend from book of the future of the phone just being Benrey from HLVRAI continues

"Is everything all packed?" Tulip asked.

"Yep."

"Everything?"

"Yes mom."

"Clothes?"

"Yes."

"Toothbrush?"

"Yes mom, I have everything."

"Shower stuff."

"...No"

"See? You should always make sure you're not forgetting anything." Cory walked to the bathroom to start packing his shower bag. "Hey so... do you think you'll be comfortable talking to me about the train now?"

"Yeah... I'd say it's been long enough."

"Good because I wanna compare our trips. What cars did you go through?"

"Well I woke up in a car full of snow."

"So did I!"

"I went to a forest full of acorn campers, a zombie car, a car which had nothing but a sentient telephone."

"There were 2 phone cars?"

"Did you go through it? The one you went through probably had stuff in it because that was before the Apex looted it."

"The who?"

"I'll tell you about it later... What was the phone car like for you?"

"Well, it was after Atticus tagged along with us for the trip..."

-

"...You see Tulip, the Corginia legacy has been passed down for generations! Before I became king, my father ruled over Corginia. He was a powerful pup. What is your father like."

"Well he works at a go kart place... I'd rather not talk about it ok Atticus?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Well... my mom and dad... they fought a lot... They weren't happy together."

“That’s ridiculous! Every mum is happy Ms. Tulip!”

“I wish that was true...”

“Well, we can’t wallow here, we have a monster to defeat, onward!”

“Atticus is right, no slowing down!” The three of them went into the next car. It appeared to be some sort of living room with a phone in the middle.”

“Boring.” One one said.

“I actually kind of like this.” Tulip said “reminds me of home.”

“You and I have very different definitions of home!” Atticus chimes in with.

Tulip looked at the phone in the middle. “Do you think... I can call my parents?”

“Why would you wanna do that Miss Tulip?”

“Well, the last time I saw my mom, I yelled at her because I couldn’t go to game design camp. She probably thinks I hate her and ran away... or that I’m dead. I just... I just don’t want her to be worried, you know?”

“Then go ahead Tulip, then after you use it I can send a message to my people!” Atticus said. Tulip then grabbed the phone and began to dial

“Hey don’t touch that.”

Tulip was shocked. "What? Don't touch what?"

"You're not supposed to be in here."

"Who says I'm not supposed to be in here? Who are you?"

"I'm the phone."

"Wait, you mean like, a sentient phone?"

"Oh my go- every time I tell someone that they repeat it out loud it's annoying, it make me angry."

"If you're getting angry because I'm surprised about you being a sentient phone then you need to go see a therapist or something."

"What do you want to do?"

"What?"

"When you grow up, what do you want to do?"

"Well, when I grow up I want to make games, video games. Maybe I'll even open up my own studio. Olsen Games! I'll be the CEO!"

"Yo."

"What?"

"That's sick... Where are we?"

"What do you- nevermind."

"Wh- wh- what's wrong? You sound upset I want you to feel a good."

"Well- I was hoping to talk to my mom. But I guess because you're here I can't really-"

Tulip was cut off by a ringing noise. She heard a familiar voice. "Hello?"

"Mom?"

"Tulip?"

"Ok all done."

"Wh- was that my mom?"

"Yeah you wanted to talk to your mom, so I let you talk to your mom."

"You only let me say one word!"

"Well- You- sometimes one word is enough."

Tulip hung up the phone angrily, sat down on the couch, and started crying.

"If I may Tulip, I would like to speak to him." Tulip got up, angrily gave Atticus the phone, and let him start talking, she then got back on the couch.

"Miss Tulip, are you... crying? What's wrong?"

"He... he just... HE JUST MADE EVERYTHING WORSE! MY MOM IS PROBABLY HAVING A PANIC ATTACK NOW!"

"Miss Tulip, you're scaring me..."

"Well sorry One One, sorry for caring about how my parents feel! Oh my gooooooooood..."

"Tulip, get up."

"Not now atticus..."

"Tulip, you said it yourself. We can't slow down, as king, I know what slowing down looks like."

Tulip looked at her hand. "My number went up, I don't know if that's good or bad though..."

"If I may Tulip... I'm not the only royalty in Corginia. While he is a rather skiddish pup, prince Hunter is still a respected pup."

"This isn't gonna end with you licking your son is it?"

"Of course not! When he went on his first journey. I was worried, petrified! just like your mother. But then I remembered... he's my son, he's like a younger me... He can make it through this. And so can you. You may be worried about how your parents are right now, but let it be known that when you reach your destination, your journey will be all but worth it."

Tulip looked at her hand, her number went back to what it was before. "So... how did your conversation go?"

"It was wonderful! I believe I made a new friend!"

"Well, that's great... No slowing down!"

"Yay! Miss tulip isn't eye sweating anymore!" the three of them then went on.

-

"You know... that phone is a jerk." Cory said

"Exactly!"

"Wait- he never asked you to solve riddles?"

"No... he asked you to solve riddles?"

"Yeah... that's weird."

"Hm. You done packing?"

"Yep, NOW I have everything."

"Alright, get some sleep because we're getting up early, we have a long flight." Cory went into his room, when his mom walked by he noticed her lack of reflection.

"What?"

"Nothing I- I just never noticed it until I found out about the whole reflection thing."

"It's honestly kind of crazy that she was able to leave the train."

"I think it's more crazy that you don't have a reflection at all."

"You'll get used to it bud, goodnight." She shut off the hallway light and walked downstairs while Cory got into bed, ready for his flight the next day.


	6. Origin of the riddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why the phone started giving riddles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly when this takes place is up to you, just know it takes place during the time that the Apex is still around (post book 1-Simon and grace being separated from the apex in book 3)
> 
> Once again, the phone is basically just Benrey from HLVRAI

All the phone knew was that his life was nice. He didn’t have to do anything, he just got to sit around and think his own thoughts until one day, a woman came in. She had a red line of lipstick on her face and her number was pretty high. He didn't really think much of it, which was normal for him. She eventually picked up the phone.

"Do you have credentials?"

"Do I need credentials?" The woman asked.

"You're not supposed to be here, graffiti isn't allowed in this car."

"I... wasn't gonna graffiti but ok."

"Huh, yeah? No."

"You know, this couch, this coffee table, and all the other stuff in this room is pretty nice."

"Uhhhh yeah."

"It would almost be a SHAME if..." She then hung up the phone and flung the doors open. "Come on in apex!"

Before he knew it, a bunch of kids were stealing everything from him. Even... the couch. During the looting, a blonde guy walked up to him with a sinister look on his face. That man was about to grab him.

"Simon, that's a null."

Simon, the blonde dude was named Simon, that answered one question.

"Well then, lets wheel it!" What the hell did that mean?

"Go ahead, socks with sandals."

Simon tried to take the phone, until he noticed it wouldn't move.

"Right, the plug."

Simon tried unplugging the phone, but it looked like it was permanently plugged in.

"Some scissors, Grace?"

Grace, so that's what the woman was named. She gave him a pair of wire cutters and he tried his best to cut the wire, but the wire just wouldn't be ripped.

"What the hell is this wire made of?"

Grace grabbed the phone again. "What's your problem?"

"Looks like you're having a little trouble there aren't ya? You're a... a little clumsy boy huh?"

Grace hung up the phone. "Let's just leave it here."

Simon was annoyed, but listened to his leader anyways. The phone looked around the room and saw that everything he had was now gone. As the kids were leaving the room, he remembered that he had control of this room, so in the moment he thought of a way to prevent this from ever happening again. Before the last kid left, he closed the exit and locked it. After trying to get out for a few seconds, the last remaining kid grabbed the phone. "Can you please let me out?"

"Yeah only if you solve my riddles. Friend."


	7. Sick day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel is sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write more 6 year old Mabel

“100.2” Lake read off the thermometer. “How do you feel?”

“I still feel funny...”

“I know sweetie, being sick isn’t fun.”

“How do you know? I thought you couldn’t get sick.”

“I can’t, but your dad can. And trust me he doesn’t like it either.”

“...I can’t breathe through my nose.”

“That’s because it’s all stuffy!” Lake said to her in a cute voice while patting her on the back. Mabel sneezed a few times and Lake couldn’t help giggling at how cute her sneezes were. Before grabbing a tissue to clean up a little bit of snot that came out.

“You know... when I was a teenager, there was one year where getting a fever made everyone panic!”

“Why?”

“Because there was a really scary disease, and having a fever meant you had it!”

“Scary? Like a monster?”

“Yeah, like a monster! But it’s all gone now, so there’s no need to worry.” She got up and tucked the little thing into bed. “Get some sleep.”

“Will sleep make me feel better?”

“Well... it won’t magically go away, but it will help!” She pecked her forehead. “I love you.” And she fell asleep.


	8. Movie night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel shows Cory a movie... but not a good one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after book of the future when the Olsens are visiting the Cosays

“Mabel?”

”Yeah?”

”I have something to tell you...”

Mabel sat there in anticipation, wondering what he was about to say

”This movie is starting to piss me off.”

”What?”

”NOTHING here works, I don’t think any of these people are actors I think they were just yanked off the street and forced to be in the movie.”

”that’s what makes it funny!”

”YOU TOLD ME THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A COMEDY, THIS IS JUST EMBARRASSING!”

“Well, it’s so bad it’s good!”

”oh you mean like the room?”

”yeah!”

”well the room is actually funny, this is just painful.”

* * *

“Ok you know what I like the grandma.” Cory said

”There’s no point to her scenes though.”

”I don’t care she’s the kindest woman I’ve ever seen and all her scenes are like they just filmed her on her lunch break.”

”I guess that’s true.”

”it’s better than our main guy- in fact I’m gonna see what else he’s been in... oh I see, NOTHING.”

* * *

“You know what, I’m disappointed. This movie is called birdemic and we’ve only had ONE scene with birds in it.”

”oh just you wait.”

immediately after that, the birds started dive bombing random houses (I’m serious that’s what happens this is a real movie.)

”I take it back I don’t want to see the birds anymore.”

”Oh just you wait Cory, just wait and see what they use to fight the birds.”

Cory watched intently... as the characters came out of the house with clothes hangers

”oh of course, why not, why fucking not huh?”

then they started swatting at the birds

”OF COURSE! Oh my fu- did nobody stop the director?”

”what?”

”did nobody go up to the director and tell him to stop?”

”well if they did then it didn’t work.”

* * *

_oh look, there’s an old guy on the bridge_

”wow, there is an old guy on the bridge.”

_these birds are contagious now go away_

”wait- contagious?”

”oh yeah, just listen. They’re contagious.”

_spouts off a bunch of stuff about global warming_

“OH! I SEE! THIS MOVIE HAS A MESSAGE ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING! THE MOVIE ABOUT BIRDS DIVE BOMBING HAS A GLOBAL WARMING MESSAGE!”

”and it’s also saying that global warming causes this bird disease.”

”Oh this movie is giving me a headache...”

”I think it’s funny.”

”well... ok.”

”jeez Cory you sound so defeated.”

”Gee I wonder why...”

* * *

”Oh look a cowboy.” Cory said

”Yeah dude, it’s a cowboy.”

”You know at this point I don’t even care, this movie has defeated me.”

”do you feel weak?”

”Yes I do- ok and he just pulled out a gun.”

”Yeah dude.”

”Ok now he’s dead.”

”Yeah dude.”

”Mabel... how did you find this movie?”

”My uncle Nate showed it to me.”

”I hate your uncle.”

”what?”

”did I stutter?”

”Why do you hate my uncle? You haven’t even met him and I just told you I have an uncle.”

”if he never showed you this movie I would’ve never been forced to watch it.”

* * *

”There’s a tree hugger now... you know we could’ve watched any other movie right?”

”Yeah? Like what?”

”Oh I don’t know... Scott Pilgrim, Baby driver, Over the garden wall is short enough for us to watch in one night!”

”Yeah but I’ve already seen those.”

”Yeah you know what else you’ve already seen? THIS!”

”but you haven’t!”

”jesus...”

* * *

“Oh ok now the birds are just flying off into the sunset?”

”Cory... what if I told you that this is the end of the movie?”

”you’re joking.”

”nope!”

”you’re fucking joking!”

”this is the end of the movie!”

”Mabel... why?”

”I thought it was funny.”

”Of course you did...”


	9. They know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lake and Mabel have a talk. AKA why Mabel went on the train

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit of a long chapter, but I wanted to go in depth here.

Lake entered the house. Jesse was with Nate somewhere else so the only other person in the house was Mabel, who was at a friends house after school for a quick study session. Lake told Mabel to be home before her and knowing how well Mabel was at being home on time she knew she was home.

“Mabel, I’m home.” No response. She was usually greeted by her whenever she came home from work. "Mabel? Are you there?" No response. She knew the first place to look was her bedroom so she went upstairs and knocked on her door. "Can I come in?" Again, no response. That wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either and she was about to get worried so she opened the door anyways and saw her laying on her bed. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm just tired."

"Oh come on, I know the difference between tired and upset." She went and sat down on the bed. "Now, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, alright?"

"Mabel please, I want to help you. Did something happen over at Audrey's

"No mom... just leave me alone ok?"

"Mabel..."

"Fine...'

* * *

"Why do you always wear that glove on your hand?"

"I told you already I have a skin problem. Really bad rash, remember?"

"Nobody has a rash since kindergarten."

"If you have the same condition I have, then yes you can!"

"Listen, I've believed the whole rash thing for years, but now I'm starting to get suspicious. Aren't rashes itchy? Wouldn't you be scratching it all the time? Also why would you need a whole ass glove for just a rash?"

"Can't you just relax? I have a skin disease. End of story." She went back to her math work. Audrey wouldn't let it go, so when the opportunity came she went and pulled the glove right off her hand.

"Audrey!"

"Mabel your... your hand."

"I... have to go."

"Mabel wait-" before she could finish her sentence, Mabel put her glove back on and darted out of there. Getting on her bike and riding it as fast as she possibly could.

* * *

"Why can't I just... be normal?"

"Mabel honey, I know you're scared right now. But you don't have to be ashamed of who you are."

"I'm a freak..."

"No, don't say that, you're not a freak. You're a beautiful young woman."

"Then why do you want me to hide it?"

Lake was confused. "What?"

"Why do you want me to hide the fact that I have metal body parts? Why do you always wear that disguise to look more human?"

"Mabel..."

"If we aren't freaks, then why don't we just show everyone that we're mirror people? Why do we have to hide it?"

"Mabel... do you think people would understand why we're like this? Don't you realize that people would come after us? I mean people will probably think we're aliens or something and I don't feel like being taken by the government."

"Oh I see! People will think we're aliens! So you admit that we're freaks!"

"Mabel that's not what I said."

"I wish I just had a normal human mom... but because you didn't want to be Tulip's reflection anymore now I look like a freak!"

"Mabel that's enough!" Lake was pissed, and Mabel knew that when she was mad it was scary.

"I'll just... stay here, in my room. Let me know when dinner's ready ok?"

A Lake was leaving, she turned back to Mabel. "The world's not ready for us Mabel, and unless the train becomes public knowledge I don't think it'll ever be ready for us." She then left and closed the door. Mabel laid on her bed and let her thoughts run through her head until she heard a noise. She went to her window and saw where the noise was coming from, it was a train. But not just any train.

"Not in a million years... nice try though."

* * *

The next day at school, Mabel didn't talk to Audrey. They had separate lunch periods and during lunch she would sit with a group of kids who she was kind of friends with. Lunch was when what happened the night before was brought up.

"Hey Mabel." Chris leaned over to her.

"What's up?"

"Audrey told us you have a metal hand."

_oh god, not this_

"Are one of your parents an alien?" Joshua asked her.

"Yeah I think so." Jaxxy chimed in with. "Her mom always looks like she's wearing a costume."

"She's just making some weird joke, guys." Mabel said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Come on, show us the hand."

Mabel could feel her face burning, she felt like she was on the verge of tears.

"I'm heading to the bathroom."

"We're just kidding- Hey! Mabel!" Mabel ignored them, she needed some alone time.

* * *

She somehow made it through the rest of the school day without anymore people asking about the hand, but she still felt horrible about being different. When she got home, her first decision wasn't to start her homework or go to her room to play video games. She instead went into the bathroom with a sharpie she had. She took the sharpie and wrote the word "FREAK" on her head. then she started crying.

* * *

Lake was usually the first to come home, Jesse's job demanded a lot of time so he didn't get home until around dinner time. When Lake got home, she heard someone crying. She looked on the couch and saw Mabel curled up, quietly crying to herself.

"Did it get worse?" Mabel nodded her head as an answer. Lake sat down on the couch and saw something on Mabel's forehead. The word "FREAK" written in black sharpie. "Oh... did you do that?"

"...yes..."

"Go wash it off."

"Why? It's true."

"No, it's not."

"I- I'm sorry about what I said last night."

"Me too."

"For what?"

"You're right... I am the reason you're the way you are... but that's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm gonna become a joke at school... everyone is gonna start talking about it... I'm not gonna have any friends anymore."

"Now you know that's not true."

"Of course it is! Soon everyone is gonna know about the hand, and everyone is gonna start talking about it."

"Mabel, I know how it feels when people think you're weird. I mean when I first got off the train and lived with your grandparents, I was always the elephant in the room."

Lake could see out the window and saw the train in the distance.

"It's here for me." Mabel said. "It wants me to go on it."

"You know we won't let you go on, right?"

"What if that's what I need?

"You don't, you'll get over this.

* * *

"Is she still upset?" Jesse asked Lake.

"Clearly, this is the second day in a row she insisted on eating dinner in her room instead of with us."

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think that she thinks you're disappointed in her."

"Why would I be disappointed in her?"

"Well, you've always told her that keeping the reflections a secret was important. Maybe she thinks she failed."

"Jesse... that actually might be true." The train went by again. "Jeez One One, what part of Mabel isn't coming on the train do you not understand?"

Lake looked back at her husband, who had his thinking face on. "What if we let her go on?"

"No, that's crazy."

"Just think about it, this may be a way for her to realize it's ok for her to be the way she is."

"You do realize how dangerous that is right? Both of us almost died on the train, Tulip almost died on the train."

"But we didn't, did we?"

"Well Jesse... you can ask her. She should decide whether or not she needs to go on the super dangerous therapy train."

* * *

Mabel the message typed out and her finger over the send button

_Don't tell people about the hand thing, ok?_

She was about to send the message to Audrey when she heard a knock on the door.

"Hey Mabel, can I come in?"

"Yeah dad, come in."

"So... your mother and I were talking and... we were wondering if... never mind. It's a dumb idea."

"Do I wanna go on the train?"

"Yeah... yeah that's what I was gonna ask."

Mabel thought for a second. "Well..."

"I think it'll help you deal with your... what's the word..."

"I'll go on."

"Wait, what?"

"I'll go on the train.

"Are you sure? You know how dangerous the train is right?"

"I think I can do it."

"That... that's great! I'll go tell your mother." Jesse closed her door and went downstairs. Mabel knew what she was getting into, she knew how dangerous the train was, yet she still wanted to go on. She looked out the window at the train which was still going by.

"I'm coming... not yet but soon... I'll be there."


	10. Talking about Tulip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel is a curious 7 year old, and she’s curious about who her mother’s prime is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More 7 year old Mabel because why not

“I have a question.” It seemed like every day Mabel had a new question to ask.

”what is it sweet pea?” Jesse asked her

”what’s mommy’s prime like?”

Lake had an annoyed look on her face, but she wasn’t gonna let her question go unanswered. “To be honest... she’s a bit weird.”

”We’re also weird, and that makes her cool!”

”well she’s not the cool kind of weird... her name is tulip and...” Lake got closer to Mabel. “She eats onions... like they're apples!" She said as if she was telling a spooky story

"Ew! I hate onions! And so does Alan!" Mabel said while holding up her stuffed reindeer. "What else does she do?"

"Well... she can be really, REALLY mean!"

"Mean? Like a bully?"

"No she's not a bully... she doesn't like talking to other people. She had a friend named Mikayla when I was reflecting her, but I think they hate each other now."

Mabel gasped, "Hating people is bad! I don't like her!"

Jesse started to get annoyed, he looked at Lake and mouthed the words _we'll talk about this later_

* * *

"Lake... why did you talk about Tulip like that?"

"Listen Jess, I spent years trying to distance myself from Tulip. The last thing I want is my kid wanting to learn more about her."

"So you talk about her like she's some sort of bad guy?"

"If Mabel doesn't like her, then she won't ask about her. It's that simple."

"Well I feel like she deserves to know more about where her mother came from. There are things about Tulip that she would like."

"Like what? The fact she thinks word up is a good song?"

"Well... Mabel likes video games... a LOT. And we both know what Tulip's job is."

Lake let out a bothered sigh.

"Listen, we told her about how you came from a murder train after being chased by flecs for months, and learning about your prime is a bad thing?"

"Hm... I guess you're right."

* * *

Lake knocked on her door. "Sweetpea? Can I come in?"

"Ok!" Lake walked in and saw her playing her game. Funnily enough, not only was it a game that Tulip worked on but it was also a game about the train. "Can you help me with this level."

"Oh honey, I wouldn't know anything about that." She went and sat down next to her. "I uh... wasn't really being that nice when talking about Tulip."

"What?"

"I... I was worried about you wanting to know more about her. I only said the bad things about her..."

"Why were you worried?"

"I... It's nothing... You wanna know something really cool about Tulip?"

"What?"

"Tulip makes videogames."

Mabel's eyes went wide which Lake just thought was adorable. "Did she make this one?" She pointed at the TV screen and Lake nodded.

"In fact, I'm gonna go through your collection and see which ones Tulip made." Lake went over to the box they used to store her games and surprisingly most of them were developed by the studio Tulip worked for. It was a fairly obscure studio but a good amount of their games had their fans. There was even that time Sega paid them to make a sonic game and everyone hated it.

"Alright Mabel, these are all the games Tulip worked on."

Mabel went through the stack and was amazed to see how many of her favorites were made by Tulip. As she went through each of them Lake looked at the TV and saw the game was paused and "STAGE 7: THE CHROME CAR" was on the screen.

"You know, I think I can help you with this one."

"You can?"

"Yeah. You see how your reflection is moving around all over the place? When she jumps and lands on the ground try landing on the ground at the same time as her."

Mabel was clearly on the easy difficulty, because she didn't even get the timing down close to right but it still worked.

"What do you say?"

"Thank you!"

"Alright, you keep having fun with that." Lake left her room and let her continue playing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna take a break for a few days. Expect a little less than a week or a week I don't know.


	11. Mabel comes home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lake and Jesse welcome Mable home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story takes place right after Mabel exits the train at the end of book of the future

Lake sat on the couch reading her book while Jesse was cooking dinner, the house had gotten quiet without Mabel around, but then they heard the doorbell ring.

“I’ll get it!” Jesse said, when he opened the door, he was thrilled when he saw Mabel was there. "Welcome back!" He then embraced her into a hug. "Ohhhh we missed you!"

"Man... how long was I gone for?"

"Eh... about 3 weeks." Lake told her.

"3 weeks? That felt like 5 months!"

"So... was it fun?"

"There were good parts, and bad parts... but more good parts."

"Well come sit down! Tell us about it!"

* * *

"So... I met a boy." The two parents looked at each other with smug looks. "No not like that! He's just a friend!"

"We're kidding!" Jesse told her.

"Yeah but... technically we're cousins so..." Lake and Jesse then looked at each other with confused faces. _Nate doesn't have any kids..._

"What do you mean?"

"Well... He's adopted so he's not related by blood to Tulip... but it would still be weird."

"W- Tulip?"

"Yeah, small world huh?" Lake had to give herself a second to process that.

"Did he... did he find out about your... how do I put this... reflectiveness."

"Aha... yeah." Mabel could tell something was bothering her mother.

"Great, now he's gonna tell Tulip that I'm off the train and now she's gonna try to meet me."

"Oh... I-" Mabel began stumbling over her words as she realized her mother was upset with her. "Sorry..."

"It's fine, we'll talk about it later. What else happened?"

"Oh well..." Mabel had to take some time to think. "Well... there was a ghost who kept calling us different words with 'bro' in it. It really pissed Cory off."

"Who?"

"Tulip's kid."

"Ah, I see."

"What else what else... we made a phone have a mental breakdown."

"Hm... what?" Jesse didn't know what she meant

"I think I remember that phone... I might've reflected in part of the couch I think."

"What couch?"

"Isn't there a couch in that car?"

"...no?"

"Hm, I guess I remember things differently."

"Oh yeah our denizen, he was a zombie named Neil..."

_do I tell them it was Simon?_

"He..."

_No, that'll just make them panic._

"He was actually friendly to us despite being you know... a zombie... Oh! One of the cars was a big beehive!"

"Like bee movie?" Jesse asked.

"You do realize that bees are a real thing right? That movie didn't invent bees." Lake told him.

"No I mean like... were there talking bees? Did they make really terrible bee puns?"

"There were actually."

"Was one of them named Barry-"

"Honey, it wasn't the bee movie." Lake tried to stop Jesse from rambling.

"Did you mean to say honey? Like a bee?"

"Come on."

"What else what else..." Mabel realized she was only telling them the good parts. No mention of the crazy turtle lady who was hunting her down and managed to get a flec to chase after her, meaning she nearly died if Simon didn't feel like coming back from the dead. She didn't realize it but tears were forming in her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"huh? oh nothing."

"Did something happen on the train?"

"I... I nearly died."

"What? What do you mean?"

Mabel could feel her voice getting shaky. "There was this woman she... she was looking for 'glitches' on the train and... and she thought that I- I was one because I- oh my god..."

"It's ok." Her dad tried to calm her down. "What happened?"

"She- she took my glove... and... she had a m-mirror..."

Lake finally realized what happened. "Oh, oh my poor baby..." She quickly grabbed her and hug her as tight as possible.

"I was so... so scared."

"It's ok, he's gone now. He's not gonna hurt you again."

* * *

After being gone for a while, it was nice to finally be in her room again. Thankfully nothing was too different about the room other than it being cleaner which she thanked her mom for. She remembered all the things that happened before the train.

"I should probably text Melanie back..."

She pulled out her phone and saw that she had a ton of messages from her already and lots of missed calls.

_MN- I'm sorry about the whole hand thing_

_MN-If it makes you feel any better I told everyone it was some dumb joke I came up with_

_MN-Mab?_

_MN-Please answer_

_MN-I'm sorry_

_MN-I'd understand if you didn't want to be friends anymore, just please respond_

_MN-You also don't have to tell me about why you have a metal hand_

_MN-If you don't want me to talk about it anymore, I understand_

_MN-PLEASE_

Mabel kept scrolling and scrolling through messages, when her parents said that they would tell everyone she was "on a trip with her grandparents" she should've realized that people would wonder why she wasn't responding to any messages.

_MC-I'm back_

_MN-OMG_

_MC-Come over on Saturday, I'll explain everything_

_MN-But it is Saturday_

_MC-Come over tomorrow then._

Mabel remembered something. The train may not have had cell service but she was able to get Cory's contact into her phone. She felt it made sense to message him as long as he didn't somehow get stuck on the train despite his number being 0.

_MC-Hello?_

_MC-This is Cory right?_

_MC-It's Mabel_

Mabel had to wait a bit, but Cory responded.

_CO-Mabel Magee? From SuperMega?_

_MC-Excuse_ me?

_CO-Nothing, just a dumb inside joke between me and my bud Tyler_

_MC-Oh, I see_

_MC-So how are things going with you?_

_CO-Well my arm is broken so the first thing my mom did was get me on an ambulance._

_MC-I don't know what breaking your arm is like because I have strong bones, but my Uncle Nate told me it isn't fun._

_CO-What happened to your uncle?_

_MC-Remember how I told you my dad went on the train?_

_CO-Oh... I see... It was wrestling wasn't it?_

_MC-Man test, actually_

_CO-What?_

_MC-Long story_

_CO-A story that you'll tell me?_

_MC-Eventually_

_CO-Alright, talk later._

Mabel felt relieved. Knowing that her trip was a success, Melanie wasn't being a jerk anymore, and Cory seemed ready to be friends. She just had one more question for him

_MC-Do you have discord?_


	12. A snowy day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cosays enjoy a nice day in the snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I live in Massachusetts which has probably the worst weather I’ve ever experienced. It’s like it snows whenever it wants to snow... including today, the day before Halloween. So I thought “I wanna write a winter chapter in October instead of December.”
> 
> Another young Mabel chapter, expect a Halloween chapter either tomorrow or the day after Halloween.

“I need help!”

Jesse looked over at Mabel, who was sitting there with a big pile of snow. “My snowman broke again!”

Jesse went over to her and got down to her level. “Watch this.” He said as he grabbed a small amount of snow and formed it into a ball. “You have to pat down the snow so that it sticks together.”

”That’s to small to be a snowman!” Mabel told him with a confused face.

”Oh this isn’t for the snowman, this is for...” he then got up and threw the snowball at Lake “That.”

”Oh you little...”

”Snowball fight! I wanna be on dad’s team!”

”Seriously?”

”Well lake, it’s 2 against 1!”

* * *

On the car ride home Mabel was out, all the snowball fighting made her tired and she slept through the ride home. Lake, who somehow won the fight despite being at a disadvantage.

”What are you thinking about?” Jesse asked.

”Oh nothing.”

”Come on, I see that big smile on your face.”

”I’m just thinking about how Mabel is one of the best things to happen to us.”

”She sure is... I never thought it would be possible. You know, half human, half reflection? Seems crazy saying it out loud.”

”But I also get worried...”

”about what?”

”what if... you know... the train comes, for her?”

”Lake, you know that isn’t gonna happen.”

”You never know, Jess.” They pulled into their driveway. Lake went to wake up Mabel but she was still asleep, so she instead decided to carry her inside. “I’ll just put her in bed, maybe later she’ll wake up.”

”And when she wakes up, she’ll be hungry.”

”How do you know?”

”It always happened with Nate, wouldn’t be surprised if it happened with her.”

When they got inside, Lake put Mabel in the bed, tucked her in, kissed her forehead, and went downstairs.


	13. Halloween Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what we have more 7 year old Mabel because why not ayyyy

"Alright and... all done!" Lake held up the pumpkin she finished carving which resembled one one.

"Already?" Mabel asked. "I thought one one looked like a squid!"

"No that was... someone else." Lake said. She went over to Jesse so that Mabel wouldn't hear their talk. "Where the hell is Nate?"

"You know how Nate is, he isn't the best at time management."

"He's supposed to be bringing Mabel's costume, if he doesn't come soon we'll have to deal with a 7 year old having a tantrum because she doesn't have a costume!"

"Where's Uncle Nate?" They heard her ask.

"You jinxed it Lake."

"I jinxed it."

* * *

Nate finally arrived at the house with the costume pieces. He was a costume designer for community theatre so he was in charge of Mabel's Halloween costume this year and almost every other year. He rang the doorbell and was greeted at the door by Jesse.

"You look like s-" He remembered that Mabel was there, "...s-filthy, you look filthy Nate."

"You say that every year." Nate said.

"Uncle Nate!" Said the voice of an excited 7 year old as Nate was nearly tackled onto the ground by Mabel. It surprised Nate as just before this the tot was upset about not having a costume.

"Alright alright." Nate said. "I got your costume."

"What's wrong? Are you upset?" Mabel asked.

"No no no, I'm fine." Nate told her. "Let's get this costume on alright?"

"You smell funny!" Mabel said, her parents took a whiff to see what she was talking about and recognized the smell from another time when he visited.

"Let me talk with Nate, alright?" Jesse told them, and Lake took Mabel into the other room. "Listen Nate... you're free to use whatever the hell you want... you know as long as it's legal."

"Which it is." Nate interrupted him with.

"Yeah yeah... But... don't use it before you're about to dress my daughter in a Halloween costume alright?"

"Listen man, I- Ok."

* * *

"Alright so, because one of your hands is already Metal we only need to use one glove. And we also have a mask right here so this should be a pretty easy costume. Easier than last years"

"Last year's costume took sooooo long!" Mabel said.

"Yeah yeah, it did."

"Why are we using a sticky glove?" Mabel asked as she pointed at the latex glove that was painted grey.

"Because if we use a big glove, people will get suspicious."

"Why is this costume not as good as last years?"

Nate ignored her unintentional insult. "Well last year you wanted to be the girl from that movie you like so much which was needlessly complicated, and this year you wanted to be a reflection so it's pretty simple."

"Why do you smell so funny?"

"Listen, we're here for your Halloween costume. Not so you can interrogate me."

"What does interrogate mean?"

"It's what you're doing right now, trying to ask a bunch of questions."

"What took you so long to get here? Are you upset about something?"

"Shut up alright?" Nate was getting fed up with Mabel, but he realized he stepped a little too far when after he snapped at her, she looked upset.

"Oh come on don't-" Before he could finish his sentence, she ran out of her room bawling her eyes out. He followed her downstairs and was greeted with Jesse and Lake looking at him like he just got called down to the principals office. And Lake holding Mabel in her arms as she sobbed.

"So... Uhhhhhhhhh-"

"Let's talk, upstairs." Jesse told him. Nate knew he fucked up. HARD.

* * *

"What the hell is going on with you?" Jesse asked. "You're usually nice to be around, even when you smell like weed, alright? Mabel adores you!"

"She doesn't right now..."

"Yeah. You took forever to get here, you come here smelling like that, you act like you don't want to be here, and then you yell at my kid? What the hell happened?"

"Get the hell of my back alright? Nothing happened."

"Really? Nothing happened?"

"Alright fine... It was Molly."

"Oh... you two broke up?"

"She was cheating... listen man I fucked up, alright? Mabel probably hates my guts right now..."

"Probably?"

"Ok she DEFINITELY hates my guts. But... I'm going through some shit right now. So maybe you'll understand why I'm a bit of an asshole right now."

* * *

Nate got downstairs and unsurprisingly, Lake was still holding Mabel. Mabel turned her head to look at Nate before turning back around. Lake was still absolutely pissed.

"Hey Mabel... I'm sorry."

"Go away!"

"Listen... I know I was a bit mean but... Something happened and I'm a bit upset right now."

"What happened?"

"I can't really explain it... I don't think you'll forgive me but-"

Mabel went over and hugged Nate. "I forgive you." Mabel said.

"Oh... good." Nate got up. "So, what do you say we have some fun trick or treating?"

"Yeah!"

"Are your friends coming?"

"Yeah! Melanie is gonna love my costume!" Nate looked at Jesse and Lake who had gone from the stern looks to the happiest faces he had ever seen and he was relieved.

"Well, let's head out!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't know what to do with Nate's character. We didn't really get to see much of his character back in book 2 so... I made him a pothead
> 
> I've been watching breaking bad ok don't judge me.


	14. Weird hypotheticals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One thing that Cory does is ask Mabel weird hypotheticals whenever they talk on Discord

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came up with this story when me and my friends were looking at weird hypotheticals from Oneyplays, and the hypothetical is taken from Oneyplays as well

Cory: Ok Mabel I have a new hypothetical for you.

Mabel: Shit, what is it this time.

Cory: Alright so you're running through the woods as fast as possible, you're like Sonic right now.

Mabel: Ok...

Cory: And then you stop in the middle of the woods because you see a giant hole. You go over to the hole and you see that sasquatch is in it.

Mabel: What...

Cory: He looks up at you with a big smile on his face, then he holds out his hands which are closed and he says "Red pill or blue pill." What do you do?

Mabel: Uh... I... What?

Cory: Come on you should be able to answer this.

Mabel: Cory I-

Cory: You have a pretty weird life, my hypotheticals should seem fairly normal.

Mabel: Ok hold on hold on NO. I don't think you can compare my mom being a reflection to SASQUATCH ASKING ME IF I WANT TO TAKE THE RED PILL OR BLUE PILL.

Cory: Come on I'm sure there's at least one car on the train based off one of my hypotheticals

Mabel: No! One One wouldn't make a sasquatch red pill MF car. He wouldn't

Cory: Come on Mabel, are you a red pill mf or not?

Mabel: W- neither! He's probably trying to kidnap me or something he's fucking sasquatch!

Cory: Just choose, red pill or blue pill?

Mabel: Ok fine red pill

Cory: Ok so he opens his hand, revealing the red pill. He eats it and goes "bye bye."

Mabel: Wait so it was asking him to take the pill? What about the blue pill?

Cory: For blue pill he says "watch this" then takes a snake out of the hole and smashes it against the side of the hole as hard as he can.

Mabel: Ok that one was just not even related to the pill! But um... after that I would probably say "ok man that's your circle of life thing I guess."

Cory: Then after you say that his eyes bulge out of his head and he says "YOU CAN TALK?" then goes back in his hole and digs to the other side of the earth.

Mabel: Jesus... you're a madman Cory. How do you come up with this stuff?

Cory: I don't know I guess I'm just creative.

Mabel: That one was definitely not as bad as your tiny Hitler hypothetical

Cory: That one was good though!

Mabel: No it didn't make sense!

Cory: It made sense to me... ok THAT'S the hypothetical that has its own train car.

Mabel: No, absolutely not.

Cory: I mean, when a passenger dies they become a zombie or a ghost, there has to be a car where they make tiny clones of passengers who die.

Mabel: You know, I can actually imagine that.

Cory: Yeah?

Mabel: Yeah.


	15. Magnets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel is curious about magnets, but that curiosity comes to bite her back when she’s on the train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First part of the chapter is another 7 year old Mabel story, the second part takes place after chapter 7 of book of the future

“Mommy?”

”Yes dear?”

”how do those thingies stick to the fridge?” Mabel was always curious about something, and because she and lake both had metal skin lake had an idea that would entertain her.

”They’re called magnets, they can stick to things that are metal.”

”You mean like-“

Lake nodded her head, grabbed one of the magnets off the fridge, and stuck it to her arm.

”Woahhh... can I try?” Lake nodded her head, took the magnet off her arm, and stuck it to Mabel’s hand. “It tickles!” Mabel wouldn’t stop giggling at the magnet on her hand, which was too cute for Lake to handle and she started giggling as well, and pulled her into a hug

* * *

”Very funny Cory.”

Cory was on the floor laughing at Mabel as she was stuck to the wall. "Sorry, sorry I-" He kept on laughing. "I- I guess this is the magnet car. And you have a metal hand so-" He could barely finish his sentence with how much he was laughing.

"Yep, keep laughing."

"Oh, ohhh that's good."

"Neil doesn't seem to agree."

Cory looked at Neil, who appeared to look really uncomfortable. "Did the Apex guys crush you with magnets or something? You get upset at the weirdest things."

Neil began another one of his weird charades, he shook his head, pointed at the ground, stomped on the ground, then made the motion of something falling off of something.

"Nobody knows what that means Neil!" Cory told him.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Cory turned around and saw that Mabel was higher up on the magnet wall.

"W- how the?"

"I climbed!"

"Wait so you're like Spider-Man or something?"

"Only on this wall I guess." Mabel managed to get off the wall. "It's easier to get off of it than I expected."

"Well then, that's less funny and more cool."

"Maybe we'll find another magnet wall, let's keep going." The trio then went on to the next car


	16. Doctors appointment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel isn't happy about having to go the doctor for her annual physical

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm doing to many 7 year old Mabel fics but who cares I don't

Mabel sat there anxiously, going to the doctor was one of her least favorite experiences ever since she got a surprise shot during her last appointment.

"Settle down young lady." Her mother told her. Mabel was constantly fidgeting in her seat.

"I don't wanna go in there..."

"Oh come on, it'll be fine."

"Is he gonna poke me again?"

"I don't know, maybe he will maybe he won't."

"It's gonna hurt!"

"It's not gonna hurt, ok?"

"It hurt last time." Mabel started hugging her mother tightly who began rubbing the back of her head.

After some more time waiting, Mabel's doctor came out. "Mrs. Cosay?"

"That's us!" Lake tried to get up but noticed that Mabel wasn't gonna get up. "Mabel please."

"I don't wanna!"

"Ok... how about after the check up we can get ice cream?" That got Mabel to actually get up.

* * *

"Well her weight seems fine, she seems very healthy, but before you two go we're gonna need to give her a shot."

_Shot._

That's what it was called, those needles that she hated. As soon as she heard that word she started panicking.

"Mabel it's gonna be fine ok?" Lake tried reassuring her.

"Will it hurt?"

"No no no, not at all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just look at me. Don't look at the needle look at me." Just like that she made direct eye contact with her mother.

"And... done!" After only a few seconds he was all done with giving the shot. Mabel looked over at her other arm and noticed a little band aid on her arm.

"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?"

"I didn't even feel it." Mabel said.

Lake scooped her up off the bed. "Thank you." She said to the doctor before turning to face her daughter. "Let me fill out the boring papers and then we can go get some ice cream ok?"

"Yeah!" Mabel's mood change from upset and scared to overwhelmingly happy made Lake just as happy.


	17. Trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody gets off the train without the bad memories. Not even Cory, Mabel, or Simon

Mabel’s eyes darted open. She took amount to get a grasp on where she was. Seeing the numbers of the alarm clock reading "3:30 am"

_Ah, my bedroom. That was just a dream._

She thought she would be able to easily go back to sleep, but whenever she closed her eyes she simply couldn't.

_I need some water..._

She went downstairs into the kitchen and grabbed a glass and filled it with water. She sat at the kitchen table letting her think to herself while taking a few sips of water.

"Mabel?"

Mabel jumped at the voice until she realized it was just her dad.

"Jeez, you scared me."

"Sorry, what are you doing up right now?"

"I had trouble sleeping. You?"

"Well I heard someone in the kitchen and was wondering who it was."

"You never got up for water at 3 am when you were my age?"

"Of course I did, and I always got weirded out whenever I heard someone else doing it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, your mother always made fun of me for getting weirded out by it."

"Hm, not surprised."

"So... you had trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah... It's nothing."

"It's the train, isn't it?"

"What? No, of course not."

"Come on, the same thing happened to me when I first got off."

"Listen, it's nothing alright? This isn't train related."

"Mabel, you had a lot of scary things happen to you. I mean you almost died!”

”Yeah, I did...”

”Mabel.”

”It’s just- I don’t want you to think letting me go on there- I don’t want you to think you did something wrong. Ok?”

”Why would we think that?”

”Its just- you willingly let me go on there. Knowing about all the bad stuff... You definitely think you did something wrong. But I don’t want you to think that because... never mind.”

”Come here” Jesse said. He held his arms out and Mabel gravitated towards his chest. "We know we didn't do anything wrong. Ok?"

"Good because... I'm glad I went. Even if there was a lot of terrifying stuff"

"We are too." He quickly released her from the hug. "Finish up your water and go to bed, alright? I love you."

"Love you too." As her dad went upstairs she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was Cory.

"Hello?"

"I did not expect you to actually pick up. Do you have a sleep schedule?"

"Oh I was just getting a glass of water. Can't really fall asleep-"

"Me neither."

"Let me guess, train nightmares?"

"Yep. I actually did something good today."

"What?"

"I was always thought that if I told my mom would get mad if I told her I wasn't interested in game design. Turns out she was totally fine with it."

"You don't have to do it anymore?"

"Yep, now I can find something I'm actually interested in. I found an old midi keyboard at my granddads house. So I might wanna try music..."

"How much stuff about music do you know?"

"None actually, it was just a maybe."

"Hm, nice."

"Alright well I have an actual sleep schedule so I'm gonna get back to sleep."

"Alright, see ya."

"Bye."

* * *

Turns out getting back into the real world wasn't that hard. Sure they had been "dead" for more than a decade but the world hadn't actually changed much. Grace and Simon actually had some help getting caught up with the years of school they missed and even began living together. Sure their parents wouldn't believe it was really them so Grace couldn't use money from her parents but living in a small apartment with her boyfriend wasn't that bad.

"Oh so the ranch guy has a sidekick now." Grace said as she watched the show. "Do you think he's gotten arrested for any of these pranks?" She asked Simon, only to notice he was lost in thought. "Simon? You there?" No response. "Earth to Simon-"

"Huh?"

"You feeling ok? You've been having those thousand yard stares every day."

"Sorry... I just have a lot on my mind."

Grace leaned over and put a kiss on his neck. "I know what you mean."

"Do we really deserve a normal life? After everything that happened? We did- I did so many horrible things. And Hazel-"

"I know, I've been thinking the same thing but... We changed. Hell I doubt anyone will know about all the things we did on the train. We can be new people now."

Simon looked back at Grace and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Let's keep watching ok? They're about to torment- I mean interview Jillian Barberie." They continued watching tv, and everything was alright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes they are watching the Eric Andre show.
> 
> Time to deliver a pizza ball.


	19. The whole world and you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The destroyed musical car is repaired through song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while hasn't it?
> 
> Yeah, I kind of lost motivation to write fanfics but I got this idea when listening to Tally Hall
> 
> Not sure when this takes place, been a while since I last added to this

"That car was just unnecessary" Cory said.

"I kind of liked it..." Mable told him.

"What did we even learn? That this One One guy likes to watch hells kitchen?"

"Come on! Learning to cook from a talking bear was fun!"

"Except for when that bear threw a knife at my head just because I added to much flour. Why did that need to happen?"

"Well, Neil liked my cake better than yours. Right Neil?" Neil nodded his head slowly.

"Well Neil is biased. He has some vendetta against me."

"gee, I wonder why" Mable said. The trio continued on to the next car. When they opened the door Neil started panicking again.

"We're not doing this again." Cory said, as he grabbed onto Neil's shirt.

"You know, I think that this time it's justified." Mable said. "The whole car looks wrecked." The inside of the car appeared to be a stage with lights and an audience. Most likely for a musical of some sort. The only thing is that it was completely destroyed.

"This must've been those Apex guys you told me about." Cory said, "You would think that One One would reset this car."

"Getting out of this car will definitely be difficult." Mable said.

"What do you mean? This will be easy!"

* * *

"How long have we been here for?" Cory asked. Looking through the various piles of trash.

"You keep looking, I'll keep thinking." Mable said.

"You mean you keep sleeping while I do the actual work?"

"Hey, coming up with a solution will get us farther than looking through sets and the actors dead bodies!"

"Ok then, have you came up with a solution."

"Well, we could put on a performance."

Cory turned and looked at Mable. "There is no way I'm gonna object myself to that."

"It might just work."

Cory continued to look through the piles of trash until he found something interesting. "Come look at this!"

Mable came over and Cory showed her a sign.

EMPATHY GOES

JESSE COSAY

"That's your dad's name, right? Maybe you're right about the putting on a performance."

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe there's some bloodline thing going on here. If your dad contributed a song maybe you can to."

"No."

"No?"

"I don't know anything about musicals. How many acts do they even have? 5?"

"Do you know any songs from any musicals?"

"No... but there's this band I listen to called Tally Hall."

"Uh huh."

"And they have a song that sounds like it would be in a musical-" before she could finish her sentence, they could hear a piano being played. They looked over and saw that Neil was the one playing it.

"Neil can play the piano?" Cory asked.

"That's the start to the song I was talking about!"

"Well, go ahead! get up on stage!"

Reluctantly, Mable got up on stage and began singing.

There's lots of pretty people here  
Sharing sotries and passing letters and  
There's lots of questions answered  
And metaphysical astronomical songs  
Words printed all on papers that  
Seem too mystical, it's so magical  
People that dance and compute that  
No one's better than you

A few of the denizens from the car who Cory assumed were dead got up and joined. With a few singing with Mable and others who started playing instruments.

There's kinds in distant cities  
Who rule their persons and make them happy and  
We won't forget about all the  
Servisory congratulatory  
Even the animals know that  
Something's brewing and they're all cooing  
'Cause in the end I'd like to say:  
No one's better than you

"Keep going! I think it's working" Cory shouted

I hope you're happy now I've revealed the truth  
I've even written this whole song about you  
And not about me, and not about me

Suddenly, all the Denizens were singing. Even Neil who they thought wasn't able to talk was singing

Please don't just laugh and clap right now  
This is serious, I'm not delirious  
I've waited very patiently  
Just to let you know, who should run the show  
'Cause we all know these are the facts  
Nothing to retract, nothing too abstract  
Concluding I'll say.

No one's better than you  
No one's better than you  
No one's better than you

All of the car was back to the way it was before. But something was different there were now 2 signs. The one with JESSE COSAY written on it. As well as a new one

MABLE COSAY

THE WHOLE WORLD AND YOU

"Oh, I didn't actually make the song. It's from a band I listen to."

"Doesn't matter, you saved our car! Why shouldn't we reward you?"

"Oh, I don't need a reward. I'm just trying to get through the train."

"You have a pretty good singing voice." Cory said.

"Thanks." Mable said. "How are you feeling Neil?"

Neil pointed to the lights, where one of them was missing.

"Hm, guess it's not completely back yet." Mable said.

Neil pointed at himself which just confused the kids. "No hablo zombie." Cory said to him. Neil started to panic again as all the memories of what he did when he was Simon echoed through his mind.

_I need it to emulate dawn before the battle of esmoroth_

_The void who came running back to us._

When he snapped back to reality he could feel an arm on his shoulder.

"You ok?" Mable asked. Simon felt tears in his eyes and he immediately hugged Mable.

_what is wrong with him?_ Cory mouthed to Mable without actually saying anything

_I don't know_ Mable mouthed back


	20. The zoo car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazel is inspecting one of the cars and meets someone she never expected to meet.

Hazel entered the car, she was told that the zoo car needed some inspection. She saw the various animals in their cages as well as a group of Randalls posing for a photo.

"Everything seems good enough here..." She said, until she eventually made her way to the gorilla exhibit. That's when she saw it, a gorilla with a nametag that said "Bugle"

"Bugle?"

"You know me? Who are you?"

"My name is Hazel... Tuba told me you were dead!"

"Tuba? You know her?"

"Yeah, she raised me after you... or at least she thought you were dead."

"I don't blame her, a lot was happening that day... Where is she?"

Hazel opened her mouth, but no words came out. She simply went into her bag and pulled out a photo. A photo of Simon, a photo of the one man she hated the most. She gave the photo to Bugle

"Who is this?"

"Her murderer."

Bugle was taken aback by what she said. "She- she's dead?"

"He did also die eventually so we don't have to plan some sort of revenge. He's just aimlessly wandering around in the zombie car. But what I can do is get you back home."

"Home?"

"Yes, the jungle car."

"You can't do that. They have those roach dog things."

"I work for the conductor, I can easily get you out of here. Even if they say no, I'm not even a passenger so those ghoms won't do anything to me."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Listen, just trust me." Hazel went up to the man in charge of the zoo. "Hello sir, if you don't mind I'd like to take one of your gorillas"

"Not for sale."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, not for sale."

"I'm not quite sure you understand. I work for the conductor and..." Hazel immediately thought of a lie, but an ironic lie. "...she's a glitch."

"Oh really? A glitch? Cool I don't care."

Hazel went back for Bugle. "Guess we're gonna have to do this the hard way." Hazel then changed into her turtle form and pulled the bars open

"Wow..." Bugle was impressed

"I know right? Lets go." They were interrupted by the sound of alarms.

"I told you that you couldn't take any of the gorillas. Now you have to face the consequences." The owner then sent a Ghom to attack Hazel. All Hazel did was chuckle, pull out a donut holer, and jam it into the Ghoms head.

Bugle then saw Hazel's true colors as she then pulled it out of the ghoms head, leaving its corpse on the ground.

"Taking innocent Denizens, locking them in these cages? Is this what you want?"

"Are... you threatening me?"

Hazel changed into her turtle form and pointed the donut holer at him. "What do you think?"

Hazel heard the sound of the car door opening and saw Bugle leaving the car. She followed.

"Bugle, wait up!"

"Don't follow me."

"What?"

"You're a psychopath. I don't feel safe around you."

"Bugle, I am the only one capable of getting you back to your car. If you go alone you'll just die. For real this time."

Bugle took the picture of Simon that Hazel gave her. "Are you like this... because of him?"

Hazel clenched her fist. "You're not the only one who loved Tuba."

Bugle took the picture, and wheeled it. "Now he won't be living in your head anymore. But what do I know? You definitely have plenty of photos of him just to get angry." Bugle went off into the next car, leaving Hazel on the bridge. Absolutely fuming but also dumbfounded at what just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So somehow the thought of "what if there was a zoo car" went to "what if Bugle was still alive?"


End file.
